Talk:Space shuttle orbiter
I noticed some anonymous users expanded the section on the real-life shuttles a few weeks back; is this information absolutely necessary to have? I'd figure an external link to the NASA shuttle program would be more than enough... -- SmokeDetector47 // ''talk'' 03:03, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC) :I wouldn't argue against the information being here, but the tense is all wrong. --Short Circuit 21:18, 13 Jul 2005 (UTC) The tense is not wrong. Its all 'past tense', from a late-24th century p.o.v. Anyway, I have removed the following context because none of it can be cited to any movie or episode and really doesnt belong here anymore than a list with short description for every President of the United States: :Enterprise (OV-101) was only a glide-test prototype, and did not carry functioning engines or heat shields. It has not flown since the early 1980s and is now a museum piece, apparently at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia. :''Columbia (OV-102) was the first shuttle to go into space. Its design was slightly different to subsequent shuttles, limiting its ability to reach higher altitudes. It could not, for example, reach the International Space Station. The Columbia was destroyed on February 1, 2003, during re-entry. The entire crew of 7 were killed, and all shuttle flights have been suspended, pending the safety redesigns due to be ready (at the time of writing) by July 2005. :''Challenger (OV-099) was a refit of a static ground test vehicle with a lower number designation, converted for operational use. It was destroyed on launch on 28 January 1986, when one of its solid rocket boosters exploded. The entire crew of 7 (including a civilian school teacher, Christa McAuliffe) were killed, and all shuttle flights were suspended until September 28 1988. :''Discovery (OV-103) and Atlantis (OV-104) have had relatively unremarkable careers thus far. Discovery was the first shuttle to launch again after the Challenger accident, and is also due to be the first to launch following the Columbia accident. At the time of writing, that launch was currently scheduled (after repeated safety-related delays) for mid-July 2005. :''Endeavour (OV-105) was the last shuttle built, and was intended to replace the lost Challenger. :''A full-sized steel shuttle mock-up, useful only for practising ground handling techniques, was also built. It was later named ''Pathfinder and given the unofficial designation OV-098. This is apparently now mounted on display in Huntsville, Alabama. :No shuttle is to be built to replace the Columbia, and Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour will bear the brunt of NASA's manned space operations (primarily ferry flights up to the ISS) until about 2010, when its replacement is planned to enter service. --Alan del Beccio 22:10, 13 Jul 2005 (UTC) Pathfinder? If we are going to list the space shuttles here, should Pathfinder be listed? or is it not really considered one of the space shuttles? Wikipedia says it was given an honorary designation of OV-098. I'm simply curious, perhaps I didn't understand the wikipedia page properly.--Terran Officer 08:53, 21 January 2008 (UTC) :As the Wikipedia article says, Pathfinder was not actually a Space Shuttle. It was a mockup made of steel and wood. It has been given an honorary designation number, but it isn't an actual shuttle. Nice to look at, though, seen it myself. --OuroborosCobra talk 19:10, 21 January 2008 (UTC) Buran The following go bye-bye: :''Late in the Earth Cold War, the Soviet Union developed a competing space shuttle program called ''Buran, with hull design elements largely resembling the American Enterprise-type shuttle. The Buran made one unmanned flight into Earth orbit but, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian government cancelled the program for lack of funding. The starship was named after this effort.'' A background note on the page is one thing, but the shuttle itself was never mentioned in canon, so away it goes. --From Andoria with Love 05:10, 18 September 2008 (UTC) Merge space shuttle articles If the STS patches were seen on screen (which don't contain shuttle names) the patches should be listed here. — Morder 22:03, 16 April 2009 (UTC)